Page 110 of As Above, So Below

Artemise’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. “Each sighting places them closer to the city proper. Celesta lied, Vestaris, and Netharis has begun to suspect it.”

“Netharis has asked Celesta about me?” I ask, my brows raising.

“Of course. She’s not going to let him take you back to the hells. Not when she’s just found you.”

The fear in my veins sinks into my bones, chilling my entire being as shame silences me. But it quickly becomes anger, because the gods—whether Netharis or Celesta or even Nektos—will never give ashitabout the impact of their decisions on anyone other than themselves.

Snatching the paper from my trembling fingers, she throws itonto a pile of others to the right of her desk.

“Return the kindness she’s granted,” she implores, her brown eyes pleading. “Remain hiddenandavoid attracting further attention from the Sovereign King.”

I nod, even though it’s too late for that.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

My life, andthe rapidly evolving disaster it’s become, became worse at dinner. The entire temple buzzed with the recent rumors stemming from the castle.

The engagement between the Sovereign King and Tanila Grayflame of Vis has ended. And of course, temple members can’t help but speculate. Whispers behind hands, fleeting glances follow me through the halls of the temple.

It’s the hells all over again.

Despite the rumors, there’s been no official announcement. Nothing from the castle that sits across the courtyard to confirm or deny or explain the spectacle hundreds of people witnessed in the South Ward this afternoon. The silence only seems to have fueled theories and gossip.

I hate it.

Ducking into a shadowed corner of the gardens, I slip the glamouring ring onto my finger once again.

I can’t take it.

I can’t take the stares, the arched brows, the whispers.

Under the cover of the glamour, I can breathe. No one notices me, no one has anything to say.

The hardest part about all of this: reconciling the fact that Ryc is the Sovereign King. The pull, the draw, everything I felt for Ryc means I felt that for the Sovereign King. One of the males positioned to claim me in some quest for power in this cursed realm.

Reconciling the two halves of the whole—the strangely familiar and comfortable fae and the stoic and powerful SovereignKing—isn’t possible. The fae who’d seen me through the veil, that I’ve dreamed about for centuries,cannotbe one of the Sovereign Kings.

But he is.

There’s no mistaking those molten gold eyes ringed with black.

If it hadn’t been for Camille, I would have offered him a contract tonight. I would have bound him to me for the rest of our lives. It would have been the perfect set up for him. I wouldn’t be able to escape him.

It’s not like there’s a realm separating us.

Gods, do I even still meet with him now, knowing what I know?

The moonstone in the pommel of the dagger glimmers in the sun in response as I emerge from the shadowed corner and I sigh. I have to return this gift. Keeping it is out of the question.

So, yes.

I still have to meet with him.

Lilith has done well to avoid me since our last meeting, but should I ever see her again…

“You’re going to force him to intervene,”Lilith’s warning chimes in my mind.

Is that what this has been? Him intervening?